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Mayor Mike McGinn wants the City Council to join him in agreeing that the Alaskan Way Viaduct tunnel replacement won't proceed unless the state removes a requirement that the city pay for cost overruns.

McGinn was sending a proposed city-state agreement on the $4.2 billion project to the Council, which will consider it Monday afternoon. The agreement the mayor is sending stipulates that work shouldn't go forward if the cost overrun provision is still in place.

"Seattle residents should not be held liable for cost overruns on a state project. No matter your opinion, signing these agreements without safeguards in place would be perilous," McGinn wrote to the Council.

The agreement between the city and state is one of the last things that must occur before work can begin on the project in earnest. The mayor has previously said he'll veto any deal unless the clause that says Seattle must pay for cost overruns is stripped from the authorizing legislation. It appears the nine-member Council has the required number of votes - six - to override any rejection by the mayor.

Outside the cost-overrun issue, 99 percent of the agreement had been negotiated between the city and state, he said.

If the Council signs off on the tunnel, McGinn has said he would have to follow their direction. McGinn says the tunnel option is too expensive; he prefers dispersing viaduct traffic on city streets.

The tunnel would replace the downtown section of the aging, earthquake-damaged viaduct.

The cost overrun provision has been controversial ever since state lawmakers approved the legislation authorizing the tunnel in April 2009. Tunnel supporters say the provision was included to get necessary votes and the clause that a municipality pay cost overruns - unprecedented in any state transportation project - would not withstand legal scrutiny.

But some lawmakers have said they will not allocate any more than the state's $2.8 billion share for the project. Seattle has agreed to pay for $900 million in related tunnel costs.

Bids for the tunnel project are due in October. Construction wouldn't begin until after the final Environmental Impact Statement is completed in July 2011. The state, which is contributing $2.4 billion to the replacement of the state highway, hopes the tunnel would be completed by 2016.

McGinn recently hired his own consultant on the viaduct project, costing $40,000 from the city's budget for viaduct-related work. He said he wanted someone who hadn't been a tunnel cheerleader. The City Council has also hired its own consultant.

Asked whether he would support construction of the tunnel if the cost-overruns provision were removed, McGinn said he has been diligent in following previous agreements between the city and state. He said he was willing to enter into an agreement once the cost-overrun provision had been removed, he said.

"I have to be true to myself. I think it's a lousy expenditure of money," he said. "The issue here is we do have to answer who will pay. There may be other issues that arise in the future where we may have to stand up for Seattle's interests in the process."